


More Crimes, More Players

by completelyhopeless



Series: Detective Grayson and Forensic Batgirl Case Two [5]
Category: DCU
Genre: Case Fic, F/M, Gen, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-28
Updated: 2015-02-28
Packaged: 2018-03-15 14:31:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3450596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/completelyhopeless/pseuds/completelyhopeless
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barbara works on the evidence while Dick and Jason find another crime scene. And something else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	More Crimes, More Players

**Author's Note:**

> Um... Apparently I like writing interaction more than the actual crime stuff. Oops.

* * *

“Honestly, Gordon, is Grayson straight up crazy or is that whole thing of his an act?”

Barbara frowned, looking up from her computer. Her glasses were foggy though she knew she hadn't breathed on them or spilled anything on them. She sighed, taking them off and wiping them on her lab coat.

“Dick's not crazy,” Tim objected, glaring at Rohrbach in the doorway of the lab. “Why would you think he's crazy?”

Barbara had more reasons than she wanted to count, but she held them back, waiting for the other detective to answer Tim's question. She almost didn't want to know what Dick might have said or done to Amy to make her think he was insane. She just hoped he wasn't hitting on her. She didn't think he would, he didn't seem to be the type, but Dick could still surprise her.

“He said he was going to meet a pseudo-assassin.”

“Oh,” Barbara said, laughing with relief. “He just meant Jason. Don't worry. It's fine.”

“If you consider meeting a psycho like Jason _fine,”_ Tim muttered under his breath. Amy frowned, and Barbara sighed. The last thing Dick needed was another rivalry among his friends and chosen brothers. Things were bad enough with Damian and Tim.

“Psycho?”

“Jason isn't going to hurt Dick,” Barbara said. She did believe that. She still trusted that he wouldn't do anything against Dick. Jason might have been slightly unhinged, but he was strangely loyal and that loyalty was just as centered on Dick as Damian's was. “He'll be fine.”

“What about Stephanie? I thought Dick was trying to find her.”

Barbara looked down at Tim. “I'm sure he is. Jason might even be able to help.”

Tim snorted. “Yeah, right. That guy is scum.”

“He's secretly a teddy bear, just like Bruce,” Barbara said, ruffling Tim's hair. “He'd do anything for Dick, even if he is a little rough around the edges. That might even be of use. You never know what Jason might have uncovered on the street. He might even have found Stephanie.”

Tim looked up at her, his eyes wide and Barbara almost kicked herself for giving him what was probably false hope. “Do you think so?”

“I need to send him some of my results. We'll see what he says when he gets my message, okay?”

“Okay.”

Amy cleared her throat. “I'm headed home now. I'll be taking food to my family if anyone's interested in joining us.”

Barbara pushed Tim forward. “Go on, go. Don't try and tell me you're not hungry. I heard your stomach rumbling and you actually eyed Dick's bat food. Just go. You'll know as soon as we know anything, I promise.”

Tim sighed, but Amy proved she was a supermom as well as a cop and managed to distract him as she led him out the door.

* * *

“You know, you should have heard me coming up to you.”

Jason snorted. “Yeah, right. Who was it Bruce sent you to to make you a ninja again, anyway? I forget which one of his weird friends tried to teach me. Then again, I did have a lot going on at the time. And it wasn't like he hadn't perfected everything with you, so—”

“Don't start,” Dick said. “We are not getting into Bruce's messed up ideas on parenting tonight. I am so not in the mood.”

“What crawled up your—”

“I said don't start.”

Jason moved around to study him from another angle. “Alright, what is it? Something's got your scaly panties in a twist, and if you don't tell me what it is soon, I'm going to shoot you.”

Dick rubbed his forehead. “What the hell was that about scaly panties?”

“You know. You remember. You were—”

“Oh, _hell_ no. That was a nightmare. I swear it was just... That was one of Maroni's head games or something. It was not real. Who dresses like that?”

“You,” Jason answered. “You have terrible taste. Believe me, I know. You don't know how many times I was tempted to hurt you because my eyes were burning. You all think I'm just crazy, but I had good reasons.”

Dick rolled his eyes. “Just tell me why you dragged me out here. I'm in the middle of an investigation—”

“You're _always_ in the middle of an investigation, Dickie-bird. It's pathetic. Take a night off. Take Red out. If you don't, I will.”

Dick eyed the other man's gun. He could take it. They both had the same training. Dick wasn't sure which one of them had more, they'd be evenly matched, but it would still be possible. “Why did you call me if this wasn't important?”

“It is important,” Jason said. “I'm just trying to figure out what the hell set you off before you saw what I had to show you.”

Dick laughed ruefully. “You'd be better off asking what _hasn't_ set me off.”

“That bad, huh?”

Dick rubbed the back of his neck. Everything was getting sore again. “The department's understaffed, Damian's not adjusting well and might end up killing someone if I don't spend more time with him, Bruce left town with Selina, Tim is being neglected again and the first friend he's made in a while is now a witness to a murder _and_ missing, Gordon brought in a couple of 'supercops' he's trying to set up with Babs, and she still won't go out with me. I could go into the nightmares and the times I've been knocked around while someone resists arrests, but then I'd be whining.”

Jason laughed. “You are such a mess. It's almost funny.”

Dick hit him. “What was it you wanted me to see?”

* * *

“Tell me this wasn't you.”

“Don't be a dick.”

“Kind of not possible. Not unless I want to change my name, which I don't, thank you very much,” Dick said, and Jason actually laughed, which was good because Dick had messed up—he was the one person Jason trusted, and he always made a point of displaying that same trust back. He should never have asked, even as a joke, if Jason had done this.

“Dick?”

He backed out of the room and leaned against the wall, breathing in and out deeply, trying to settle his stomach again. He could see it—his mother's hand, the blood—and that wasn't even what that crime scene back there _was._ Dick had to hold it together. He couldn't let himself lose control.

“Do not puke on me.”

“Really trying not to,” Dick said, closing his eyes. “The hell is wrong with me? That is not how my mother died, so if I could stop seeing that image, it would be really great.”

Jason took a spot next to him. “I think you're going to see it no matter where you are or what you're doing. Kind of like me and finding my mom had overdosed. Though weirdly what I remember most about that day is how awful your shirt smelled.”

“Eh, well... You know that was one of Bruce's bad turns. He'd puked on me not long before I got the call, and we were out of money for the laundromat so nothing else was clean and I didn't even care as long as I got to you because you scared the hell out of me on the phone,” Dick admitted. He looked over at Jason. “How'd you come across that mess in there?”

“You want a real answer to that?”

“This is me, dumbass. You know I couldn't arrest you even if I _knew_ you'd done something. I'd be sitting there campaigning for you to get therapy or something,” Dick reminded him. “I know not everything you do is on my side of the law. Hell, not everything _I_ do is on my side of the law. So just tell me what happened.”

“I followed a drug dealing pimp here and was going to give him some... free career advice when I walked into this.”

“That pimp... he doesn't deal with underage kids, does he?”

“He might. You afraid that's what happened to this friend of Tim's?”

“It damn well better not be,” Dick said, and then he realized the phone that was ringing was his. Damn. He knew he'd answered it earlier—which meant Babs must have put it in his coat pocket while Alfred fussed over himand he hadn't even thought about it when he'd answered it in Amy's company. That just showed how distracted he was.

“What?”

“Gee, Grumpy Wonder. Maybe I shouldn't pass along what I found. You know, the evidence that just might solve your case?”

Dick grimaced. “Sorry, Babs. I just... Do you have Rohrbach's number? I've got something she needs to take over.”

“Another one?”

“Yes.”

“And Stephanie?”

“Jason may have a lead on her, but it's not good. Try not to let Tim know about any of this. Please. Oh. You thought she was one of the victims here, didn't you? I'm sorry I wasn't clear. No, we've got a couple more dead guys, but the girl's still missing. I don't know when I'll—ow.” Dick looked over at Jason, hand on the bruise that Jason had smacked to interrupt him.

“Dick?”

“I'll call you back,” Dick said, ending the call and putting away the phone as he turned to the girl in the ugly yellow sweater. “Let me guess—you're Stephanie.”

Her eyes went wide, and just because it was that kind of a week or day or—hell— _year,_ she took off running.


End file.
